Saying the U.S. faces a looming energy crunch as nuclear power plants shut down and coal-fired electric plants are taken offline, the Laborers have launched a “Clean Power Progress” campaign for more natural gas pipelines as a way to fill U.S. energy needs. Their drive, started this summer, focuses on a pipeline running through Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan. If built, the pipeline would transport natural gas not just to consumers in those states, but also elsewhere in the U.S., the union says. Read more »

(Union Advocate) One by one Friday, graduates of the inaugural MN Trades Academy stepped up to the podium inside IBEW Local 110’s union hall and offered their three favorite construction crafts. Welding was a popular choice – not surprisingly, given the teenage demographic – but there was something for every one of the 20 graduates, who spent nine weeks this summer working as paid interns, touring the apprenticeship centers of 16 local Building Trades unions. Read more »

In Minnesota, construction workers are productive, high-skilled, and well-paid. Over 30 percent of these workers are members of a union. To maintain and increase membership, trade unions in Minnesota must continually demonstrate how workers benefit from contributing dues. Read more »

(Michael Moore, Union Advocate) As the first trickle of mud oozed out of the concrete truck’s chute, 13 trainees dressed in hardhats, safety vests and tall rubber boots sprung into action, using shovels and trowels to distribute the concrete evenly across 13 rectangular slabs.

The July heat was pushing 90 degrees, and the trainees, participants in a unique pre-apprenticeship program co-sponsored by the Cement Masons and area tribal authorities, worked in silence, heads down, as their instructors barked orders and critiqued their work.